A million miles in a thousand years (by Donald Miller)

(Amazon UK link)

I very much liked the books by Donald Miller when I first read them, finding them quirky and a bit different from most Christian writing. I reread his best-known ‘Blue like jazz’ in 2021; it’s semi-autobiographical as well as having some honest, thought-provoking comments about faith. I then re-read ‘Searching for God knows what’ last year, but didn’t like it as much as I had the first time, although I thought the second half well worth reading.

At the start of this month, I embarked on ‘A million miles in a thousand years’, which I last read in 2011. I hadn’t remembered anything about it, just that I found it moving and very well-written. It was a busy period with visitors, so on some days I only read short sections; I did appreciate the way it’s divided into very short chapters (36 in all) making it easy to read in odd moments.

The basic idea of the book is that two film-makers are proposing making a movie of Miller’s life, based on his autobiographical account. He doesn’t give the title anywhere, but I assumed he referred to ‘Blue like jazz’, and just checked; there was, indeed, a film made with the same title. Unfortunately it only seems to be available in the United States. 

The first chapter is a general one about scenes that we remember in detail from our lives, usually because they are different from everyday life. Then the rest of the early part of the book recounts Donald Miller’s meeting with the two film guys, Steve and Ben. He knows nothing about making films at the start, and is rather puzzled as to why anyone would want to make a film of his life. But he agrees to discuss it, and several meetings are described.

The style is quite informal but very readable, if a tad long-winded in places. And as the book progresses, the author learns a lot more about story-telling and what makes a good movie. There are five ‘parts’ to the book, each one loosely covering a slightly deeper understanding of what draws people into stories, and why books often have to be changed for visual media.

Alongside discussion of film-making and plotting, Don Miller recounts some current activities in his life, which happen alongside the discussions. He explores some issues from his past, and decides to make some positive changes to his life. He tries to find his long-lost father, and he agrees to some challenging physical activities including a bike ride across the United States. 

It was quite readable and interesting, but I didn’t find it as riveting as I did the first time. The subtitle is, 'What I learned while editing my life', and that pretty much covers it. It seemed rather sad that the film-makers had to invent so many incidents - so much so that it didn’t sound as if they were making a film about Donald Miller at all, but another similar young man in a different universe. 

And while the author was able to embark on some new, memorable adventures as a result of deciding that his life was a bit dull, that's not an option for everyone. As someone with a pleasant, content but mostly unmemorable existence, it felt almost depressing in places. 

Still, the insights into storytelling and plotting are useful reminders, and I thought it was a good book to read sporadically during a busy period. But the spiritual insight is minimal, and I’m not sure I knew, even by the end, what exactly the author believes. 

I’d still recommend this in a low-key way if you want something reasonably light with a Christian theme without being at all pushy. But perhaps I’ve moved on from the kinds of questions being chewed over in this book. 

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